


in search of silver linings, we discovered gold

by earlymorningechoes



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Archery, F/F, First Kiss, Not Actually Unrequited Love, Teaching
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-29
Updated: 2018-01-29
Packaged: 2019-03-10 22:37:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,556
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13511202
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/earlymorningechoes/pseuds/earlymorningechoes
Summary: Keyleth asks Vex to teach her how to shoot. Vex has a hunch that's not what she's really after.





	in search of silver linings, we discovered gold

**Author's Note:**

> Fair warning that I am on episode 16 of the first campaign, but this ship stole my heart.

They're home in Emon, for longer than a night and a half for once, when Keyleth says she wants to learn how to shoot a bow. 

“But why, darling? Your spells are more than enough, why would you worry about a weapon like mine?” Vex asks, leaning casually against the wall. She’s so short, but takes up so much space with her sheer presence that Keyleth’s mind goes blank and it takes her a moment to find words. 

“Uh. Well, um, you have spells too?” Her voice pitches upward, as if it's a question, and she shakes her head and starts over. “You shoot, and you're really good at it, but you have spells too. And I thought it might be good to know a little more, you know?”

Vex squints slightly, sure the words are scripted despite the stumbles, but she shrugs. “All right, I don't have anything else planned. Meet me in the practice yard?”

When they meet in the yard twenty minutes later, she's holding two bows, her current one and an old one with a much lower draw weight, which she hands to Keyleth. After setting her own bow against a wall, she takes Keyleth’s hand and leads her to a spot about fifteen feet from one of the archery targets. 

“Take your stance,” she says, and Keyleth’s approximation of an archer’s stance is much less bad than she was expecting. She reaches up and puts her hands on Keyleth’s shoulders, attempting to adjust her form, but Keyleth jumps about a mile as soon as her hands make contact. Backing off quickly, Vex gives her space to breathe, and then steps closer again in concern, this time where Keyleth can see her clearly. 

“Are you alright?” she asks, reaching out to hold the bow while Keyleth takes a moment.

Keyleth nods, breathing deeply before she speaks. “I just - um - I didn't notice you behind me?” She shakes out her arms, long and gangly, before accepting the bow and taking her stance again, all without quite looking Vex in the eye. “I'm ready now.”

Vex hesitates briefly, then places a hand on Keyleth's shoulder once again, not to adjust her stance but in a question. “Keyleth, darling, is there something you're not telling me?”

She shakes her head fiercely, eyes wide, but Vex can't quite tell if it's in disbelief that she'd even think such a thing or because Keyleth is trying to hide a lie. “No! I think I'm just...nervous? About the bow, maybe? But I do want to learn! I'm ready this time!” Lining back up with the target, she takes her stance again. 

Still unconvinced, Vex taps her fingers against her lips in thought for a moment, but decides not to press the issue. She steps up behind Keyleth and straightens her shoulders, explaining what she's doing before moving on. She moves her hands down to rest on Keyleth's hips, to turn her body at a good angle to the target, and she feels her own heart flutter suddenly. 

_ Godsdamned crush _ . She was supposed to be over this, the one person she couldn't just go for, in fear of hurting them. 

“Vex?” Keyleth asks, twisting her head around to try and look directly behind her, and Vex realizes she's been resting her hands in one spot for far too long. She moves away quickly, continuing with the explanation and trying to ignore the way her heart refuses to slow down. Finally she hands Keyleth an arrow, showing her how to nock it to the bowstring, and steps back to let her take her first shot. Keyleth takes a slow, deep breath in, drawing back, and lets the arrow fly as she exhales. 

Despite her somewhat impressive starting stance, her aim leaves a lot to be desired. The arrow thwacks into the ground a good six or seven feet to the left of the target, the blue feathers fletched to the end vibrating slightly as it settles. Keyleth looks astonished and excited that she even sent the arrow in the right direction, and Vex finds herself grinning as well, the enthusiasm contagious. 

They keep at it, adjusting Keyleth's aim until she's able to at least get nearer. Just as the sun starts to slip below the Keep’s walls, she grazes the edge of the target, and she nearly drops her bow in surprise. 

“Well done,” Vex says, and Keyleth is radiant with the praise - Vex’s traitorous mind supplies a comparison to Pike’s goddess that she tries not to think about. She helps Keyleth collect the arrows and takes back the bow before scurrying off, tracking down Grog to see if a night of drinking will help get Keyleth off her mind.

It’s not until she’s two and a half mugs of ale deep that she realizes Keyleth probably doesn’t actually want to learn how to shoot a bow.

\------------

The rest at Greyskull is, predictably, cut short, and the whole group finds themselves crowded into a small inn in a village about two day’s ride from Emon when the twins have a sudden, explosive fight. Vex takes to the small patch of woods just outside the village with her bow, intending to clear her head by hunting for small game to supplement whatever meal they'll get at the inn. She stalks into the trees, her footsteps silent but her mind ringing with anger, and misses two easy shots and scares away three different rabbits before realizing this isn't the best choice, given her mental state. 

Trekking back to the too-small inn, she finds Keyleth standing outside, staring up at the cloud-laced sky, and a plan comes to her as her ale-soaked thoughts come back to her. She pulls to a stop just as she enters the inn’s gate, holding out her bow. 

“While we've stopped, Keyleth, would you like to try again?” she asks, trying to keep any hint of ulterior motives out of her voice. It mostly works - Keyleth looks somewhat startled by the interruption, as expected, but doesn't seem worried. Nodding, she takes the bow from Vex before looking around in slight confusion. 

“We don't have a target here, though,” she says, fidgeting with the bowstring. Vex reaches out instinctively to get her to stop, and Keyleth gives her an apologetic look and stills her hand. Fighting the urge to take her bow back, Vex leads the way back into the nearby woods. 

“We've got plenty of trees.” She reaches out to trail her fingers along the bark of a few as they pass by. They walk until they're in a small clearing, shafts of sunlight piercing through the canopy to form patterns on the ground. Vex points to where Keyleth should stand, stepping up behind her to tweak her stance and trying to ignore her own stuttering heartbeat to pay attention to the way Keyleth reacts, her plan finally starting to come to fruition. 

But every time she touches Keyleth, on her shoulders or her elbow or her hips, she finds herself rationalizing the reaction - Keyleth startles easily, so she jumps when Vex’s hands are on her shoulders. The shudder when Vex moves her elbow is because she's ticklish. The sharp intake of breath when Vex touches her hips is because...because -

“I can't do it,” Keyleth says suddenly, and it takes Vex a moment to pull out of her thoughts enough to realize she's literally unable to manage the higher draw weight of Vex’s bow. Stepping back, Vex takes a deep breath before holding out her hand for the bow. 

“I'm sorry, darling, I forgot to think that this wasn't the bow you practiced with.” She fidgets with the bowstring herself once Keyleth hands it to her, long enough to get bored, and then moves onto the next part of her plan. “Keyleth, why did you ask to learn to shoot?”

All at once, Keyleth looks both like it’s an extreme effort not to run away and like she’s rooted to the spot. Her gaze roves over the sunlight patterns on the ground; she doesn’t meet Vex’s eye. The silence stretches between them, broken only by the cawing of a bird and the quiet trickle of a stream somewhere out of sight, and Keyleth opens and closes her mouth like she can't find any words to say at all. 

Vex waits, impatiently, until it seems like Keyleth's inability to answer is an answer in itself. She sets the bow down and steps forward slowly, giving Keyleth time to back away if she wants to. A hush falls over the clearing, and Vex can't figure out if it's in her imagination. 

“Can I kiss you?” she asks, a little breathlessly, and Keyleth's answering nod is one of wonder, her eyes wide. She bends down slightly as Vex rocks up onto her toes, and their first kiss is soft, hesitant, but warm and exactly right. 

They break apart after a few moments, and Vex finds herself unable to contain her grin as she looks up. Keyleth leans in first this time, and she hums happily as Vex’s arms loop around her shoulders. When they break their second kiss, there's a teasing bent to Vex’s grin. 

“You could have just asked, darling,” she says, and Keyleth's jokingly indignant protest is lost as they both lean in for their third kiss. 


End file.
